President-elect Donald Trump met Thursday with the mayors of Columbia, S.C., New Orleans, La., Oklahoma City, Okla., and other members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
“He showed great interest in helping cities progress,” said Mick Cornett, mayor of Oklahoma City and president of U.S. Conference of Mayors. The group asked for the meeting the day after the election.
“The president-elect listened to our issues and concerns, our desire to see a significant investment in infrastructure and the protection of the tax exemption of municipal bonds as a key part of that plan,” said Steve Benjamin, mayor of Columbia and second vice president of the group.
“There’s a lot of work to be done,” Benjamin continued. “We’re going to focus on investment in American infrastructure, building schools and roads and bridges and hospitals and water and sewer infrastructure, and also making sure we build strong, reliable, responsible police forces all across this country.
“We have men and women who are doing great work on the ground there. We want to make sure that the best of the best are supported and that this relationship inures to that ultimate goal,” he added.
Benjamin stressed the protection of tax exemption of municipal bonds, a rule which has been in place since 1913, saying it is “sacrosanct to us delivering on infrastructure.”
“Obviously I know the president-elect is a builder; he has some innovative and creative ideas. We want to make sure that all those ideas as well come on the table, but he was clear that his support of the tax exemption was there, and that was wonderful news.”
Cornett said that the mayors gave Trump and Vice president-elect Mike Pence “a little information about past funding streams and past histories with administrations.”
“We have a meeting coming up next month in Washington. We’re hoping to meet with a lot of the Cabinet members there and get to know this administration better.”
Trump “showed great respect for our organization,” Cornett concluded.
The mayors also expressed hope that current or former mayor would be elevated to a position of interest in the White House to “guide the administration on intergovernmental affairs as it applies to local governments.”
Also in the meeting with Trump were Tom Cochran, CEO and executive director of the Conference of Mayors, Elizabeth Kautz, past president and mayor of Burnsville, Minn., and Mitch Landrieu, mayor of New Orleans and vice president and of the mayors group.
